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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
Specifically, how the death of print journalism and the newspaper industry has lead to the age of clickbait, Huffington Post Buzzfeed-ism and the dangers therein. Enjoy!
Very good Midnighter I Enjoyed, unfortunately the satire is spot on.
When they turned the news room over to the sales team, they delivered a fatal blow.
Predictable, really.
They thought it was a really bright idea to fire all the editors.
Golfers should focus on golf. Period.
Predictable, really.
They thought it was a really bright idea to fire all the editors.
Golfers should focus on golf. Period.
Good piece by Oliver but he and his staff missed something obvious regarding the Bezos reference. Check out the date on the graphic.
Agree....but John Oliver is part of the problem, not the solution. He stole his bit (or not) from Jon Stewart and Colbert, etc.). These guys give one-sided opinions and state them as fact. Then, when called, they say "hey, we're just comedians". Yet, sadly, way too many people get there "news" from comedy central and HBO docudramas (which aren't close to factually correct).
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
I'll give Oliver credit for providing sources and fact checking. He doesn't need much help in this instance when he has video proof of the behaviors that led to where we are. What's the other side of the story here?
I don't watch HBO often but got a load of his rant on Islamaphobia. While there can be too much made of terrorism (how much of a threat of it is there compared to, say, skin cancer for example) it is clearly a MAJOR problem. If the guys that pulled off the Bataclan attack got their hands on chemical or biological weapons, would they have hesitated to use them? So, while I think there is ample room for discussion both ways, to suggest people are loony, xonophobic and/or crazy to be concerned is (at the very least) condescending. I was pretty put off by his tone and notion of superiority. IMHO, he's a snob. He thinks what HE thinks is smarter and more educated than you. He puts out a one-sided story and calls it fact.
I don't want to get into it on this board, but if you want to go into test we can have a longer convo. On this board, it will get out of hand.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
Oliver is another self-righteous, sneering liberal who denigrates anyone who doesn't follow liberal orthodoxy. Jon Stewart was much the same - but funnier and more talented. Oliver is on the list of reasons I keep wondering why I pay for HBO. The only item on the "pro" list is G.O.T. (seriously - is there anything other than GOT on HBO that's worth watching?)
(/s/- the sad cyclops)
(/s/- the sad cyclops)
Is the bolded sentence above referring to O'Reilly and Hannity? Oliver admits to being a satirist while the other two are actually serious. Scary stuff.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
Silicon Valley.
It's a simple message about the paper media dying slowly. I'm not sure how anyone could really refute it. Saying he's a liberal so he is always wrong seems to be a common theme. Shoot the messenger...what was the message again as I wasn't listening. Sadly those of the left do the same with messages coming from the right. Listening to a message instead of assuming a message is a problem that many people have. I'm as guilty as the next guy from time to time.
I did watch seasons 1 and 2 ... #3 didn't quite hold my interest. Perhaps it's worth another go.
Or Chris Matthwes, Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, Farik Azide...you can go on and on. The point is that the press has become awful. Of course you are correct on Fox News (for the most part) but its a circular argument.
The original poster was holding up a "satirist" as being a paragon of virtue in our MSM...I was simply pointing out that he is just the same. Worse, in fact, because (as you point out) he's really just a satirist and comedian and uses that excuse when he comes under the same kind of attack you used on Fox News.
He's a joker that wants you to believe he is this:
When he is really this:
Wow. I think you have this whole thing entirely backwards. No. I know you do.Or Chris Matthwes, Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, Farik Azide...you can go on and on. The point is that the press has become awful. Of course you are correct on Fox News (for the most part) but its a circular argument.
The original poster was holding up a "satirist" as being a paragon of virtue in our MSM...I was simply pointing out that he is just the same. Worse, in fact, because (as you point out) he's really just a satirist and comedian and uses that excuse when he comes under the same kind of attack you used on Fox News.
He's a joker that wants you to believe he is this:
When he is really this:
Well, I'm pretty sure he IS smarter and more educated than 90% of the population - just maybe not smarter and more educated than his audience though.
He kinda DOES have a point about Islamaphobia. Or - killer sharks, or the ebola virus, etc. Which is - get some f*&#ing perspective, Janice. Is Islamic terrorism a problem? Yes. Is the fact that there are literally 1.5 billion Muslims who are NOT terrorist a better reason to NOT treat every single Muslim as a terrorist? Perhaps? Is it funny to make fun of people who watch Fox News and worry that they'll catch Ebola from Islamic bomb-throwing killer sharks while they're driving 80 mph down the highway to catch some greasy fast-food for lunch while puffing on some Marlboros? Yes - and its ok to make fun of people who cant' do math as far as I'm concerned.
Pretty sure if you make a list of all the things you're likely to die from, you'll find heart attacks, strokes, cancer and car accidents way up near the top of the list and ebola, killer sharks, Islamic terrorists, etc. down in the high hundreds. But the media of course, gets their "click bait" by focusing on the really scary sounding things that literally have a 0.0001% chance of killing you, while ignoring the boring things like heart disease that are ACTUALLY going to kill you.
People will go nuts about screening people for suspected terrorism ties at the airport, but those same people will also be asking where the smoking area is at the airport - not realizing the irony that you're probably 1000 times more likely to die FROM the smoking lounge at the airport than from any other factor - except maybe the fast food burger at the airport food court.
If making fun of people is the only way to point out the absurdities in life - then by all means, have at it!
more Americans have been killed by toddlers with guns than by Islamic terrorists.
WHAT IS THE LIBERAL MEDIA HIDING ABOUT THOSE DAMN TODDLERS????
I agree that this is the big problem here - that most people really don't understand the difference between a fact and an opinion, and most people try to pass their opinions off as facts. But I don't think John Oliver or John Stewart are guilty of this - because of the very reason - they call themselves comedians and THEN they'll mock you if you are going to take the one-sided opinions of a comedian seriously.
(Side note - it is curious that most funny people do have a decidedly liberal bent. I don't know why conservatives suck at humor so badly, but I suspect its because they take themselves WAY too seriously.)
I think if you called John Oliver out on his one-sided opinions, he'd say "of COURSE its just my f&*^ing opinion!" while Hannity or Limbaugh or O'Reilly would swear that their opinions are absolute truth with a straight face. Or at least - knowing that they're conning people.
Satire is ALLOWED to be one-sided. Mostly because the very subject it is lampooning or satirizing is so one-sided. But people should be smart enough to recognize the difference between satire and propaganda.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
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Or Chris Matthwes, Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, Farik Azide...you can go on and on. The point is that the press has become awful. Of course you are correct on Fox News (for the most part) but its a circular argument.
The original poster was holding up a "satirist" as being a paragon of virtue in our MSM...I was simply pointing out that he is just the same. Worse, in fact, because (as you point out) he's really just a satirist and comedian and uses that excuse when he comes under the same kind of attack you used on Fox News.
He's a joker that wants you to believe he is this:
When he is really this:
Please show me where I held up John Oliver as a paragon of virtue.
Have you ever heard someone attempt to present both sides of an issue, a rare occurrence, but something that does happen on occasion? Mind-numbing, positively mind-numbing.
One might not agree with Oliver, but he is thought-provoking, much more so than Liebowitz-Stewart, who starts out that way and then typically degenerates into a buffoon.
here's the amazing thing . . . IMHO, one of the most corrosive rulings for democracy was Citizen's United. I don't think the USSC was corrupt in its decision, I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they ruled strictly on their interpretation of the law, but the effect it had on unlimited "dark" donations to campaigns.
and Super PACs have been one of the biggest scams in US history. they are inherently fraudulent, no matter who you support. The rules surrounding them are so lax yet byzantine, it is hard to make sense of them. They seem like they allow campaigns to do the exact opposite of what we expect from FEC rules.
and the media largely ignored them. especially the loud mouthed cable news networks.
and Stephen Colbert did a hilarious job of educating the public on the nature of how Super PACs collect donations, and can essentially work hand in hand with a candidate and campaigns. no one did more to expose the incestuous corruption of our democracy than he did. so much so, even traditional media outlets acknowledged his efforts:
LINK
so people can rail against Stewart, Oliver, et al . . . they actually do a better job of educating the public on issues through their satire than most cable news (ahem, CNN)
and Super PACs have been one of the biggest scams in US history. they are inherently fraudulent, no matter who you support. The rules surrounding them are so lax yet byzantine, it is hard to make sense of them. They seem like they allow campaigns to do the exact opposite of what we expect from FEC rules.
and the media largely ignored them. especially the loud mouthed cable news networks.
and Stephen Colbert did a hilarious job of educating the public on the nature of how Super PACs collect donations, and can essentially work hand in hand with a candidate and campaigns. no one did more to expose the incestuous corruption of our democracy than he did. so much so, even traditional media outlets acknowledged his efforts:
LINK
so people can rail against Stewart, Oliver, et al . . . they actually do a better job of educating the public on issues through their satire than most cable news (ahem, CNN)
Do you prefer Hannity, Breitbart, Drudge, Savage, Rush, West and so on for your factual, truthful, reporting?
I like how he'll sometimes have a call to action too, like his Net Neutrality segment which flooded the FCC with complaints after bringing an issue to light that few knew existed.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
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The other thing is this piece isn't even political (if it is, I'm missing something). The only 'other side' here is that clickbait journalism is fine if it's the only means of revenue for news agencies.
C'mon, dude. I'm a liberal myself, but I don't think liberals have cornered the market on either intelligence or sense of humor. I'm sure that, like me, you have plenty of friends who are engaging, funny, and conservative.
That being said, I would admit that there seem to be far fewer comedians who espouse a conservative point of view. Jeff Foxworthy, Dennis Miller and his former SNL colleague (blond gal; Victoria Jackson?) come immediately to mind, but I can't think of anyone else off the top of my head. Given the appetite of conservatives for conservative-oriented news and TV/radio commentary, you would think there would be a larger number of conservative comedians plying their trade on TV.
Adam Corolla, Nick DiPaola and Colin Quinn are a few comedians that come to mind that don't kiss the left's rear. I wouldn't say they are necessarily republican but on many issues they are right of center.
How many of the gripers here actually watched the video? I lean conservative. The video was spot on in explaining how Penn Live and the like ended up where they did. There was nothing political about the video.
Curious..what are the legitimate sources of news these days? Seems like Assange, Snowden and Wikileaks as everyone else has a slant.
Where are these people who are treating ALL Muslims as terrorists? I haven't seen any. And before you say Donald Trump, let me beat you to the punch. The suggestion of a moratorium or restrictions on IMMIGRATION from Middle Eastern and/or Islamic countries doesn't equate to believing that ALL Muslims are terrorists, and to suggest that anyone in favor of considering such a policy is a racist is, frankly, insulting. I will never forget the experience of passing through the Paris airport in about 2006. France is generally regarded as a liberal-leaning, fair-minded country, whose foreign policy is nowhere near as aggressive as America, right? Despite that reputation, I was surprised and, to be honest, relieved, at the blatant racial profiling that was going on as passengers were checked through security. Young men who looked to be North African or Middle Eastern were, gasp, being scrutinized more carefully than white-haired old ladies and children. It is of course unlikely that any of these folks were terrorists, but I sure felt a whole lot safer and I am not afraid to say it. P.S. Do you think that if any one of us wanted to immigrate to France, Germany, Italy, etc. those countries would just say "sure, come on in, no problem, we will be glad to provide you with free housing, medical care, education, etc." Of course not. Our immigration policy is absurd, and there is nothing wrong with pointing that out. End of rant. Have a nice day.
There are political and economic news interests that influence news reporting : if, what and how items are reported. Newsrooms are owned or owe somebody most of the time. If you don't think that makes a difference, you haven't lived very long. Television news is the worst of the worst.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
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Good story, but would challenge the idea that France is more liberal than the US when it comes to immigrants or other ethnicities. They're notoriously hard on both Muslims and Jews.
There are only two people I trust in this world. One is me and the other isn't you.
No...but I also don't prefer NYT's (midnighter's point, really), NBC, Maddow, Matthews, Brian WIlliams and so on and so fourth. That is the point, really, none are trustworthy.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
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That wasn't my point at all - I didn't have a point. Merely sharing the segment which I believe is about the death of the print newspaper and the lengths media companies will go to generate lost revenue, to include ignoring stories of importance in favor of stories that people want to read. Essentially compromising integrity for profit and entertainment.
True, but what did Oliver state in this piece that was off the mark? It's one thing to question the messenger if you have some bias towards him, but can you at least point out where this very vanilla piece was leaning somewhere or dishonest?
Edward R. Murrow's famous speech comes to mind:
Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or perhaps in color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. I invite your attention to the television schedules of all networks between the hours of 8 and 11 p.m., Eastern Time. Here you will find only fleeting and spasmodic reference to the fact that this nation is in mortal danger. There are, it is true, occasional informative programs presented in that intellectual ghetto on Sunday afternoons. But during the daily peak viewing periods, television in the main insulates us from the realities of the world in which we live. If this state of affairs continues, we may alter an advertising slogan to read: LOOK NOW, AND PAY LATER. For surely we shall pay for using this most powerful instrument of communication to insulate the citizenry from the hard and demanding realities which must indeed be faced if we are to survive. And I mean the word survive, quite literally. If there were to be a competition in indifference, or perhaps in insulation from reality, then Nero and his fiddle, Chamberlain and his umbrella, could not find a place on an early afternoon sustaining show. - See more at: http://www.rtdna.org/content/edward...s_lights_in_a_box_speech#sthash.He79CetB.dpuf
http://www.rtdna.org/content/edward_r_murrow_s_1958_wires_lights_in_a_box_speech
Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or perhaps in color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. I invite your attention to the television schedules of all networks between the hours of 8 and 11 p.m., Eastern Time. Here you will find only fleeting and spasmodic reference to the fact that this nation is in mortal danger. There are, it is true, occasional informative programs presented in that intellectual ghetto on Sunday afternoons. But during the daily peak viewing periods, television in the main insulates us from the realities of the world in which we live. If this state of affairs continues, we may alter an advertising slogan to read: LOOK NOW, AND PAY LATER. For surely we shall pay for using this most powerful instrument of communication to insulate the citizenry from the hard and demanding realities which must indeed be faced if we are to survive. And I mean the word survive, quite literally. If there were to be a competition in indifference, or perhaps in insulation from reality, then Nero and his fiddle, Chamberlain and his umbrella, could not find a place on an early afternoon sustaining show. - See more at: http://www.rtdna.org/content/edward...s_lights_in_a_box_speech#sthash.He79CetB.dpuf
http://www.rtdna.org/content/edward_r_murrow_s_1958_wires_lights_in_a_box_speech
^^^^^ 1,000,000 % correct ^^^^
Sadly when people watch a John Oliver or a Jon Stewart they take their information as if is the same as the team at 60 Minutes. And guys like Stewart and Oliver make their presentation as if they were 60 Minutes. But when they get called out for their lopsided bias, they always hide behind the "we are comedians.... and all is fair when you are a comedian" card.
just to be 10000000% correct, they are called out for a perceived bias in who they attack. not that they are inaccurate in their information or criticisms.
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